The Magical Creature

There were several reasons allowing the British to reduce the U-boat peril, each of varying significance, and these are outlined below. In the early years of the war, escort ships were unable to give adequate warnings of a U-boat's presence. The only means of detecting a U-boat, other than the human eye, that the escorts possessed was ASDIC, which located the U-boat by bouncing sound waves off its hull. This was only useful when the U-boat was under the water and as generally, U-boats only submerged to attack, by the time ASDIC detected a U-boat the convoy was already in danger.

The Germans had sent out U-boats because they simply could no longer afford a purely defensive naval strategy. The Germans were the first to use torpedoes in battle to make their U-boats even more deadly. A torpedo is self-propelled underwater missile launched from a tube located on the deck or inside the hull of a warship. Torpedo tubes were first built into submarines in 1885 by the Swedish armaments manufacturer, Thortsen Nordenfelt. Torpedoes in 1914 carried a contact-triggered explosive warhead and had a range of 10,000 meters and could travel at 41 knots.1 However, their ideal range was about a kilometer because they tended to be inaccurate over longer distances.

Not only did we have ships, but we had a device called the Turtle. Invented nearly 150 years before, it was not until the Revolutionary War that the submarine would be used in combat. A man named David Bushnell would develop the Turtle to deploy underwater mines. The Turtle would fail all of its missions and would be lost at the Battle of Fort Lee when the ship transporting it would be sunk. “Despite the failures of the Turtle, General George Washington gave Bushnell a commission as an Army engineer…After the war, he became commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”(History 1).

After Great Britain made a blockade to stop trade between the U.S and Germany, Germany started to use their u-boats to have unrestricted warfare. On DBQ 16:Why Did We Enter WWI?-Document 5 it says”... the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it [would] use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach… Great Britain… or the western coasts of europe…”Meaning that if they saw anything on the western coasts of europe or entering Great Britain, they would blow it up. This is an example of unrestricted warfare. Another example, according to an article called The Sinking of the Lusitania it says “At 2:10 in the afternoon a torpedo

The U-boats one of Germany’s of most intimidating naval weapons. The U-boat, also known as a submarine, which is a boat that could go underwater. The common U-boat during World War One could carry 35 men and 12 torpedoes (history.com). The Germans would use the element of surprise by torpedoing ships such as their enemies or neutral countries.For example, the ship the Lusitania, a british ocean liner that had been coming from New York to Liverpool had been torpedoed without warning, which ended up killing 1,189 people. The Germans would use the U-boat for unrestricted warfare which caused the Germans’ to have one of the most

​But however Britain was the country America did the most trading with, and they had ships traveling over the seas all the time and that became a problem between Germany and the United States. And that is when Germany announced unlimited warfare in the Atlantic ocean against all ships in February 1915. The warning said this “Vessels flying the flag of great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk” (historyinanhour.com) So all ships neutral or not if they entered the war zone around Britain, they would be attacked by the German U-boats and if they did decide to travel over the Atlantic in the war zone, they did it at their own risk because the warning was made clear. (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-unleash-u-boats)

A submarine is defined as “something that functions or operates underwater; specifically: a naval vessel designed to operate underwater.” This definition holds true today but started at the beginning of the Civil War when submarines originally became a popular choice of weaponry. In general, submarine crews were composed of a commander, who steered the boat, and six or more men who used hand cranks to move the boat. Many inventors intended on creating electric motors to move the boat, but they were unable to produce enough torque. Submarines were primarily used in combat because they could travel invisibly. Innovations like submarines did not just change the way people fought wars–they also changed the way people lived.

Submarines, also known as U-boats. This U-boat was able to attack ships underwater without being spotted. The only Major problem is that it broke the International law. When the Germans attack a neutral ship, they are supposed to warn them beforehand but

Before World War II, the submarine was very predictable and easily managed with detection systems, depth detection, and antisubmarine forces. The aircrafts were harder to manage, and could easily penetrate enemy territory. It was not so predictable.[xii]

This event pushed the United States into WWI, because the Germans sunk the ship and caused many Americans to die. It was sunk, because the Germans thought that the Americans were transporting weapons to Britain.

U-boats were military submarines used by Germany in the war as a weapon. When the German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg proclaimed Germany’s purpose to use unrestricted submarine warfare, his one main concern was that it would aggravate an American response – in this he was to be precise. By 1917, the war was not going okay for Germany on the Western Front. Unrestricted submarine warfare was an outcome of anxiety and the belief that the fierceness of such a tactic might just keep America out of the war if the outcomes were remarkable and outrageous enough.

A submarine that may be unfamiliar to you was called the Pioneer. It was later renamed the H.L Hunley. The most well known submarine during the American Civil War. This submarine belonged to the Confederate States of America. It played a small part in the American Civil War. The Hunley, nearly 4 high and 15ft wide ,was built in Mobile, Alabama and launched in July 1863. The Hunley sank the USS Housatonic on February 1864. The Pioneer or shall I say the H.L Hunley became the first ship ever to sink an enemy vessel during a war, but sadly the submarine itself sank along with all of the crew members. No survivors. What they did is they drilled a hole in the enemy vessel and put the dynamite into that hole and ignited the dynamite to blow a

had sunk both merchant and passenger ships without warning. Then later on Germany was trying

The first and foremost answer would be the sinking of the Lusitania, an British cruise/transport ship, bound for Britain from New York. The German U-boat ring sought to sink all supply ships headed for Britain in order to starve the island. It sank the Lusitania as part of its efforts. 1195 people died, including 128 Americans.

Submarines were effective and best known for sneaking on the enemy. They were lightly armored and served as easy prey if discovered. It also had small crew numbers which made it hard to take prisoners from captured steamships. Despite these reasons, the Germans were non reluctant to break the international rules of warfare. The Germans attacked and sank the British passenger ship carrying American civilians on board. The American people were in disbelief and accused Germany of violating international rules. However Germany disagreed to the accusations.